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For the children

The Carmel City Council considers a controversial resolution Monday night supporting a child-safe community standard for the city. The resolution would ask businesses to put away anything from magazine covers to lingerie out of the view of children. Proponents say it would make the city more wholesome, but critics charge it legislates morality.

It began as a campaign last fall to cover up Victoria Secret's lingerie-clad mannequins, called too revealing by Lori Baxter, a Carmel mother.

"The more sexual images you give young people the more likely it is for them to have sex," Baxter said.

The store replaced the lingerie with pajamas. Since then, Baxter, has lobbied Carmel City Council members to support a resolution encouraging business owners to place anything that might be considered suggestive or offensive out of the view of children.

"For the children" trumps just about everything, including "you can't legislate morality" and "stop being such prudes." Of course, no matter what Carmel does, its children will continue to be overwhelmed with sexual images on network TV, cable, in music and movies and through the Internet. If the council really wants to make a dent, perhaps it should ban electricity. That would give us an alignment between the forces of morality on the right and the forces of environmentalism on the left. We can all huddle in our dark, warm living rooms, saving the Earth with our children safely by our sides.

Comments

Bob G.

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 10:33am

I'm glad you posted this FOR THE CHILDREN, Leo.

;)

B.G.

Harl Delos

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 11:11am

Leo, there are a lot of folks living without electricity in Allen County. When I lived between Milan Center and Cuba, twelve of my thirteen closest neighbors were living without electricity. Now, I'm living in Lancaster Pennsylvania (I notice that Bob G has moved in the opposite direction) where there are 40,000 people without electricity.

The plain sects may be conservative in their attire, but they are hardly prudes. They seem to have a healthier attitude towards human sexuality than society as a whole, possibly because animal husbandry exposes children to sexuality in livestock. Husbands and wives are expected to have an active and very satisfying love life, as that is one of God's greatest gifts to mankind.

Within the privacy of their own homes, husband and wife will exchange hugs, pat bottoms, and otherwise engage in suggestive behavior, and children notice that. After all, children notice everything.

Suggesting that children should be taught, by example, that marital relations are shameful in any way? THAT sounds highly offensive to me!

Of course, maybe if we turn off the electricity to Marion County, the folks in Carmel will find that there's a better way to spend the evening than to watch Leno. I love my TiVO - but I love my wife more....

derwood

Tue, 03/18/2008 - 11:51am

Carmel is in Hamilton County.

How many of those 40K in Lancaster have hidden generators in their barns?

d

Harl Delos

Wed, 03/19/2008 - 1:21am

You're right about Carmel. I thought Shortee's Golf had a Carmel address, and it turns out to be Williams Creek (which I've never heard of.)

There aren't *any* hidden generators in the barns here, as far as I know. There's no reason to hide them. They don't run anything directly off the generators, though; they just charge batteries with them.

There are over 40 different plain sects in Lancaster County these days, and I don't claim to be an expert on all the different ordnungs, but don't think any of them ban battery power; it's just electricity that's banned.

Violating the ordnung isn't considered a sin; the ordnung is simply a guideline to following the precepts in Romans. When I lived in Milan Township, there was an older OOA farmer that was extremely arthritic, and he had no sons. He couldn't handle the buckles on the harness, so the bishop ordered him to buy a tractor. That's why the ordnung can vary from congregation to congregation.

The four groups in Allen County back then all demanded wooden open-top carriages. Open-top carriages are a rarity here, even though it's a lot warmer; it rarely hits zero here, and never hits 20 below. Many of the buggies here are made using fibreglas, depending on whether their individual ordnung allows it. Near Martindale (northern part of Lancaster County), there's a group that allows buggies made of chromed tread-plate.